A day at the beach

Dave Price of CBS’ “The Early Show” apparently drew the short straw Thursday. He was sent to the shores of Lake Erie in Hamburg to show viewers what a lake-effect storm with high winds looks like.

You could tell how this was going to go when host Maggie Rodriguez in the studio threw it to Price, took one look at him and said, “Oh no.” As he was pelted with lake water, snow and ice, Price told viewers the storm was wreaking havoc in the northeast.

Then he managed to work in that Western New York was the home of both Millard Fillmore and Wolf Blitzer.

On another report from Lake Effect Central, Price finished his segment and sent it back to host Harry Smith in the studio. Smith got off a great one-liner, dryly noting that in Buffalo, Thursday would be considered “a beach day.”

Give ’em a hand

In Amherst, council members signal votes for or against resolutions by raising their hands.

This would be an efficient system if all the members raised their hands at the same time and raised them high enough for everyone to see. But they don’t.

Monday night’s Town Board meeting brought another awkward attempt at tallying votes, this one featuring Supervisor- elect Barry Weinstein.

Weinstein’s half-hearted hand gesture wouldn’t cut it for an NFL punt returner, according to one colleague.

“If you were to call for a fair catch, you’d get plastered,” Council Member Dan Ward said.

Name that church

A full-color photograph identified as Buffalo’s beautiful St. Louis Catholic Church hangs outside the third-floor courtroom of Erie County Judge Sheila

A. DiTullio.

The only problem? The photo at 25

Delaware Ave. actually shows St. Paul Episcopal Church, at Church and Pearl streets, and not its Catholic counterpart at Main and Edward streets. Both churches have connections dating to the early 1880s, so that might explain the error.

DiTullio, law clerk Evelyn A. Gawronski, secretary Karen Piegzik and court clerk Billie Jo Zakia have complained to state court officials about the holy misidentification. They’re still waiting for divine intervention—or a correction.

Speeding star

Keanu Reeves has scouted locations in Buffalo for “Henry’s Crime,”a new movie about romance and a bank heist.

Now we know part of it will be filmed in Kenmore, a village where some drivers set their cruise control at 30 to avoid running afoul of the law.

So he has to work a traffic infraction into the script, right?

The idea that Kenmore would play host to the star of the movie “Speed” was too delicious to let it pass without comment.

The department makes no apologies for pulling over lead-foots, said Peter Breitnauer, the village’s assistant police chief. “We are strict about enforcing our laws,” he said. “We do it, and we’re proud of doing it.”

Reeves’ police officer character in “Speed” had to keep a constant watch on a speedometer.

He would be wise to do the same thing when he crosses Kenmore Avenue.

High on crime

As Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza listened to an admitted burglar argue for a reduced sentence Tuesday, something sounded familiar.

Donald L. McGinnis, 39, of Niagara Falls, had pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted third-degree burglary for breaking into two Town of Niagara homes in May.

At his sentencing, McGinnis claimed he couldn’t remember the break-ins because he was on drugs at the time, but Sperrazza wasn’t buying it.

“That’s the same thing you said after your last burglary conviction [in 2005],” she said.

This was no “Twinkie defense.”

Sperrazza ordered him to serve 1z to three years in prison and to pay $350 in restitution.

Written by Stephen T. Watson with contributions from Bruce Andriatch, Sandra Tan, Matt Gryta, Michelle Kearns and Thomas J. Prohaska. e-mail:

offmain@buffnews.com